When Lying is the Right Thing to Do
by RodentFace
Summary: At the beginning of their sixth year, James is being accused of a crime he did not commit. But why is Lily lying for him?
1. The Prank

Author's Note: I'm thinking about making this a series, but I'm not sure if I want to. Feedback on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Actually, feedback in general would be greatly appreciated.

"Detention, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said as James and Sirius walked towards the Great Hall.

James stopped in his tracks. "For _what?_"

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "I think you know very well what, Mr. Potter."

"Normally, I would say yes, but right now I _honestly_ don't know," James replied. "But it's only the first week of school. I haven't really had any time to think of anything good to do yet."

"Because you didn't spend half the summer planning new pranks for this year," Sirius snickered.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James snapped. Actually, he'd spent very little of his summer planning pranks what with feeling guilty about what had happened with Lily and Snape after the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL and Sirius moving in with the Potter's that summer.

"Let me refresh your memory," Professor McGonagall said dryly gesturing towards the Great Hall.

James and Sirius shrugged and entered the Great Hall.

"Woah," was all either of them could say. The east wall of the hall read, "I'm sorry, Lily. I love you." The words were bright green (the color of her eyes) and took up the entire wall. With the sun coming up through the windows, the greens words seemed to glow. It was a very simple charm; someone had merely written the words with his wand (very similar to the Muggle art of spray-painting), but James could tell that the spell would not come off so quickly. Several people were pointing at it and giggling. People craned their necks to look at James or Lily. Lily. She was just sitting there eating her breakfast indifferently as though nothing were going on.

"I didn't do that," James said, still in shock. He recollected his thoughts. "I mean, that's a pretty good idea, but I didn't think of it." He grinned, "I wonder if he'd mind if I stole that idea?"

"And who do you suppose it was?" McGonagall asked.

James shrugged. "How should I know?" As a matter of fact, James knew very well who had done this, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing McGonagall would never believe him.

McGonagall nodded, disbelieving. "Your detention will be cleaning the wall. You will do this every evening until the wall is spotless….."

"He didn't do it, Professor," Lily Evans said. James and Sirius jumped; neither of them had noticed her arrival.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "And how do you know this, Miss Evans?"  
"He was practicing for Quidditch tryouts yesterday," she said. "I was in the library studying and I could see the Quidditch pitch perfectly from my window. Around…..7:30 maybe, he came into the library to work on his Transfiguration essay. He was sitting at the table next to mine and he didn't leave until I did." She looked guiltily at the floor. "I lost track of time and we didn't leave the library until after curfew. I'm sorry, Professor. I had several books with me and he helped me carry them back to the Common Room."

James didn't know why Lily was lying. Well, actually, he was at the Quidditch pitch until around 7:30, but the rest was a lie. He had gone straight to the Common Room and did his Transfiguration essay (yes, the great James Potter does his homework on time) with Sirius, Remus and Peter. The other Marauders of course would be willing to vouch for him, but it was unlikely Professor McGonagall would listen to them as they were his friends. However, Lily was a model student and would never lie to a teacher (until now).

"You can ask Madame Pince," Lily added.

James' face fell. Lily lying for him was unfathomable stroke of luck, but Lily _and _Madame Pince? Never.

"That won't be necessary," McGonagall answered. James looked up, unable to believe his luck. Of course, Lily never actually counted on Professor McGonagall asking Madame Pince; Lily knew she'd believe her without any proof. It was a risky move, but then again, James liked risks. "But still," Professor McGonagall continued, "Mr. Potter could have very easily vandalized the wall after you two had returned to the Common Room. What time did you say you left the library?"

Lily considered. "10:30 maybe? Yes, I think that's about right."

Professor McGonagall nodded. She beckoned Professor Flitwick over. "A simple time-checking charm will determine when the spell was cast. Filius, if you'll do the honors."

Professor Flitwick strode over to the wall and traced the words with his wand.

"I didn't do it, Professor," James said once again.

"That's not even his handwriting," Lily pointed out.

James hadn't thought about that. But as she said that, he noticed how the handwriting on the wall was far more feminine than his.

McGonagall considered this. "Potter, go get your Trasfiguration essay." James and Sirius began to leave, but McGonagall stopped them. "Potter, _you_ go get your essay, _alone_. Mr. Black, you may go have breakfast." She pointed to where Remus and Peter were sitting, and looking very worriedly at James.

Throwing an apologetic glance in James's direction, Sirius sat down across from Remus and James ran back to the Common Room. Only moments later he returned, out of breath, with his essay in hand.

McGonagall only had to glance at it to see that it clearly wasn't written by the same person who wrote on the wall. She noticed how the words on the wall were rather feminine while James's essay had the appearance of penmanship that had been carefully instructed, but then the writer realized that it was more efficient to write quickly than neatly.

"Around 9:30, Minerva," Flitwick hurried over. "No later than ten."

McGonagall nodded. "Mr. Potter, you may go. Thank you Miss Evans."

Lily hurried off and James in quick pursuit behind her.

"Hey, what was that about?" he asked. "Why did you lie for me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily replied, treating him like she usually did whenever he tried to talk to her.

"Yes, you do. Why did you say I was in the library with you?"

"Because you were, James," Lily said innocently. She smirked. "Are you afraid of ruining your reputation by it getting out that you were in the library?"

"Lily," James said firmly, starting to worry that maybe she'd been Confounded or something, "you and I both know that I wasn't in the library last night. But we both know I didn't do it. So why did you lie to McGonagall?"

"Potter, I just got you out of trouble. Why are you questioning it?" Lily asked. "Now leave me alone or I will be forced to hex you."

James sighed, but knew it was time to let it go. He told her he'd see her in class and left.

But as matter of fact, Lily had a very good reason for lying for James. While he hadn't been in the library with her (it had actually been Frank Longbottom and she'd been counting on Madame Pince only remembering a redhead Gryffindor girl and a black-haired Gryffindor boy), she knew he was innocent, or at least, innocent for _that_ crime. Upon seeing the words written on the Great Hall, Lily knew exactly who it was. Hadn't she seen his handwriting a thousand times before? But she didn't turn him in because she knew that she'd have to face him if she did and she really wanted nothing more to do with him. She sighed. It was a sad day when she'd rather lie for James Potter than forgive Severus Snape.


	2. Cheating

Author's Note: Even though I didn't get any feedback on whether or not I should write a second chapter (I only got one review), I've decided to continue. Oh, and yes, Peter DOES have a crush on James.

Peter was panicking. Sitting alone in the Common Room, he'd been frantically trying to finish a Transfiguration essay (that he hadn't even started, by the way) that was due tomorrow. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to be writing about, let alone how to put the concept into words that didn't look like they'd been copied out of a book. None of his friends were around to help him either. James was off somewhere with Lily (they'd started dating just before Christmas) and he had no idea where Sirius and Remus were (had they said something about Quidditch?).

Just before he was about to fall into complete and utter despair, two very familiar, very welcome figures entered through the portrait hole.

"Ah, there it is," Lily Evans said striding over to the couch and retrieving her cloak. She wrapped it around herself and turned to leave once again. Just as James put his arm around her waist to help her out, Peter called out to them.

"James!"

James and Lily turned to see a frantic Peter waving them over.

"I need some help with Transfiguration!"

James nodded and led Lily over to Peter. "What's wrong?" (Lily removed her cloak, seeing that they'd been in the warm Common Room for quite some time.)

"This essay! I have no idea…" his voice trailed off and he looked up at James imploringly.

"You haven't started this yet?" James asked. "I've already turned it in and gotten it back!" He grinned smugly. (Both Lily and Peter felt butterflies in their stomachs flutter.) "McGonagall said if you turned it in soon, you'd get extra credit."

"Yes, moving his overall grade up from a low 103% to a 106%," Lily commented bitterly. She'd been feeling rather envious ever since she realized his grade surpassed her own low 98%.

"No," Peter said, ignoring Lily. "I have no idea what we're doing and…." He grabbed a fistful of hair nervously. Lily wondered if that was a habit he'd picked up from James.

"Well, you're just comparing and contrasting the Duplication spell to the Materialization spell," James replied.

Peter stared at him blankly.

"Here," James pulled his wand out and made a simple loop in the air, procuring a red rose from the air. He handed the rose to Lily who smiled. "You make a loop for the Materialization spell. For a Duplication spell, you just make a "U" shape. Like this," he swiped his wand through the air once again causing Lily's rose to erupt into a dozen, each identical to the next. Her grin broadened. "Got it?"

"Uh, I think so," Peter replied uncertainly.

"Great," James smiled. "Now you only need two feet of parchment for that. I wrote four, but….."

"Which also contributed to his 106%," Lily sighed.

"….but you don't need to write as much as I did," James finished, grinning at Lily. "You ready to go?"

"Let me just put these in some water," Lily said, holding the roses up a little. She hurried up to her dorm.

"James, I still don't get it," Peter almost begged, taking advantage of Lily's absence.

"What don't you get?"

"_Everything_." Peter looked so close to tears that James sighed.

He summoned his own book bag from his dorm. "Here," he handed it to Peter. "You can use my notes."

"Thank you," Peter whispered relieved, "that should help a lot."

James nodded as Lily came down the stairs and the two of them exited through the portrait hole.

XXX

However, even with James' notes, hours later, Peter still didn't understand any of the material. He sighed, and shifted through James' bag, hoping to find more notes to help him. What he found was even better. James' own essay.

Peter grinned. He glanced around, as though afraid someone might be watching his every move. When he saw that nobody was paying him any mind, Peter took out his wand. _What was the motion for that spell again?_ he though. _Oh, yes!_ He made a "U" shape with his wand and a second scroll baring James' name and score (112%) fell upon Peter's lap. Peter sighed, _Now how do I get that off there?_

XXX

The bell rang dismissing class. As the class gathered their things, McGonagall bade James and Peter over to her desk, "Mr. Potter? Mr. Pettigrew? A word please."

James not knowing what was going on, strode over to McGonagall's desk, a puzzled look upon his face. Peter, however, knowing exactly what was happening, refused to look anywhere but the floor as he bumped several desks, trying to make his way over. McGongall saw all of this and knew immediately that James was blameless, but felt the need to question them both to avoid accusations of favoritism.

"Miss Evans, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, you may go on," McGonagall said to Lily, Sirius, and Remus (who'd all hung back), gesturing to the door. The three of them left reluctantly, but as McGonagall didn't hear their feet down the hall, she knew that they were simply listening behind her classroom door. _Fine_, she thought, _if it's really that important to them, let them listen._

"Is everything okay, Professor?" James asked. McGonagall was amazed at how much he'd grown up in the past year and a half. Until last year, he'd never addressed her as "Professor" and she wouldn't have put cheating past him, but now, well, there was no doubt in her mind that he was innocent.

"You turned your essay in a week early and I returned it to you, Mr. Potter," she began.

"Yeah, and I think I still have it here," James said reaching for his book bag.

"That won't be necessary. The point is, if I returned it to you, why is there an almost identical essay on my desk right now?"

James' eyes widened. "I don't know….."

She held up a hand to silence him. "Mr. Pettigrew, why is it that your essay was identical to Mr. Potter's? Down to the handwriting?"

Peter looked at the floor ashamed. James' eyes widened in understanding and betrayal, but he quickly hid it. "Professor, I…."

"Mr. Potter, I asked Mr. Pettigrew."

"I copied it. I didn't understand Duplication or Materialization spells and James' bag was right there so I Duplicated James' essay and got rid of his name and grade and replaced it with my name," he refused to look at James.

"Do you realize how incredibly stupid that was of you? Not only is cheating a serious offense, you also nearly got James in trouble too….."

"I told him to," James interrupted. He looked extremely disgusted and refused to look at Peter.

"Mr. Potter?" McGonagall raised her eyebrows. She hadn't been planning on punishing James at all, and yet here he was turning himself in for something he hadn't done.

He took a deep breath, "I was too lazy to explain it to him so I told him to just copy mine. Sorry, Pete. I should've just helped you."

McGonagall's eyebrows furrowed. Peter should have been on his knees apologizing to James and here James was apologizing to Peter!

"Well, then, you'll both receive detention and 0s on the assignment," McGonagall desperately wanted to scream at James, "_DON'T DO THIS! YOU'RE ONLY HURTING YOURSELF!_" but she merely said, "Every Saturday for the next month will be spent helping Mr. Filch cleaning the first and second floors." She swallowed. "You may go." She opened the door let them out only to smack three seventh years in the face. Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin fell backward, clutching their cheeks, where McGonagall had accidentally hit them. "IF YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN IN ON A CONVERSATION, HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE DOOR WHEN THE PEOPLE STOP TALKING!" she fumed.

Seeing his friends sprawled on the floor, Peter began to laugh, but stopped when he saw that James found no humor in the situation.

The five of them hurried down the corridor and James practically had to run to keep up with Lily. "Hey, slow down!"

"Why did you do that?" she asked, not looking at him.

"Do what?"

"Lie for Peter! I saw you give him your notes, but you didn't tell him to copy off you. Did you?" she stopped abruptly to face James, an extremely dangerous edge to her voice.

"NO!" James shouted, offended. "How could you think that?"

"I don't know, _you_ said it," she snapped.

"Look, I was trying to help Peter out. Why are you so angry?"

"Because you did nothing wrong and now you've got detention this Saturday. A _Hogsmeade_ weekend."

"Wait, is _that _what you're angry about? Me missing Hogsmeade with you?"

"Well, we _were_ supposed to spend the day together, but I suppose _that's_ not going to happen."

"Lily…"

"James, the weather was going to be great, and how often does that happen in February? And since Valenine's day was on a weekday this year, we were going to celebrate it on Saturday, but obviously you've got other plans…."

"You think I _want_ to have detention? That I _want_ to get a zero on an essay that I worked _really_ hard on?"

"Then why'd you do it?" Lily stopped walking.

"Why'd you lie for me last year?"

"That's different…"

"How? How is you lying to McGonagall any different than me?"

"For one, you were innocent. Secondly, nobody got hurt. You didn't get in trouble for something you didn't do and it didn't really effect anyone else. This time, you're getting in trouble even though you did nothing wrong, and _I_ miss a date because mine has to be all noble all the time!"

"Lily…."

"Just don't." And with that, she hurried off.

James stood there feeling terrible, wishing he could go back and tell McGonagall the truth, even though he knew he couldn't. As Sirius and Remus walked past, they through him sympathetic looks and James thought that he heard Remus mention something about seeing how Lily was and then the two of them hurried off. And he was alone. Except for Peter who came hurrying towards James though he was the last person in the world he wanted to see at that point. Even Snape would have been more welcome at that point.

As for Peter, he was focusing on the one good thing that had come out of this whole ordeal: It had caused James and Lily to get in a fight. Maybe they'd break up.

"What Peter?"

"I'm sorry…."

"No. It wasn't fair of me to do that to you. I blew you off when you needed help." James tried to smile. "Friends don't do that. I shouldn't be mad at you." But James couldn't figure out why he still was.

"James, it's okay…."

"No, no, it's not. Hey," he grinned, "I'll tutor you. And besides," a real genuine smile this time, "you mastered the Duplication spell when you copied my essay. I bet if we work hard, you'll have an O by the end of term." James put an arm around Peter's shoulders, trying to be optimistic, but honestly, he still wished that he wasn't in trouble.

But luckily, Professor McGonagall had no intention of giving him a zero. While he still would have to serve detention (she wasn't completely going to let him off the hook; he'd lied to a teacher after all), he still did nothing wrong. She sighed as she wondered when the students would grasp the fact that sound travels amazingly well when bouncing off the stone walls that make up Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


End file.
